


Wild Wild Heart

by robokittens



Series: the cool gays table [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Everyone is Queer, F/F, Multiple Background Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-16 01:25:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1326625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robokittens/pseuds/robokittens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Krista clears her throat, and maybe slams her hand on the table a little. "<em>Cute girl</em>," she says pointedly. "We vote yes? Because she's meeting with her counselor today, I guess, but she's got this lunch period. Should I invite her tomorrow?"</p><p>"Aye," Connie and Sasha say in unison.</p><p>"Aye," says Marco.</p><p>"I'm gonna laugh at you so hard if she's straight," Armin says, "but yeah, aye."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hsau everyone's a huge queermo? yeah sure let's go
> 
> tw this chapter for some casual, affectionate use of slurs
> 
>  
> 
> _when you feel all alone / and the world has turned its back on you / give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart -- savage garden, "crash and burn"_

"Krista Reiss?"

She can't help breathing out a giant sigh of relief before she raises her hand and calls out that she's present: it took until senior year, but finally, _finally_ her forms and pleas and explanations have all gone through. No more explaining her weird first name. No more explaining how to _pronounce_ her weird first name, or that she'd much rather be addressed by her middle name please, that's what she'll be writing on all her tests and papers so better get used to it now. 

Not that it matters, really: she's been in class with most of these kids before, so they both know her legal name and know better than to call her by it. Still. However small a victory it is, it's victory nonetheless -- beside which, it bodes well for more important name-changes for other students. One could accuse Krista of many sins, but indifference toward the well-being of underclassman was not one of them.

She's still musing on her triumph as Ms Rheinberger keeps calling off names, until the teacher stops abruptly.

"Um," Rheinberger says, and Krista almost laughs at how out of character it is: she's never had Rheinberger as a teacher, but by reputation she's almost unflappable.

"Here," comes a voice from the back of the classroom. It's amazing how bored the voice manages to make that one word sound, low and drawling. Krista turns around to see its owner. It's someone she doesn't know, someone clearly tall despite being slouched over the desk, with dark hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, and heavy-lidded eyes seemingly not fixed on anything. They raise their head, and Krista barely holds back a gasp at the pink pout, the freckles dusting across their cheekbones. Whoever they are -- and it's still a mystery, as they recite a jumble of syllables that presumably make up the name Rheinberger couldn't pronounce -- they are _cute_. 

"It's Norwegian," they're saying when Krista tears her eyes away from those lips long enough to focus on the sounds they're producing. "Don't worry about it. Just -- Ymir."

"Ymir it is, then," Rheinberger says. It doesn't sound as wonderful as when the dark-haired beauty in the back says it. "Miles Zermusky?"

"Here!"

Rheinberger smiles. "All right then! Everyone's here -- good start to the year, I like it. You've got …" She checks her watch. "Ten more minutes until first period, so use it as you will."

Krista pulls her phone out of her pocket and opens the camera function to selfie mode: bangs good, lipstick good, eyeliner on point. She smoothes her skirt down as she gets up and walks over to the desk in the back. "Hi," she says brightly, peach-painted fingernails tapping lightly on the edge of the desk. "Are you new at Sina? I don't think we've had class together before! I'm Krista."

They raise their head slightly, just enough to meet Krista's eyes. "Yeah."

"It's so good to meet you!" Krista beams. "Ymir, right? Am I -- did I say that right?"

"Yeah," Ymir says again. They haven't broken eye contact with Krista, who smiles all the brighter.

"Cool! What pronouns do you use?"

Ymir actually reacts to that one, sitting up somewhat straighter and wrinkling their nose. "Girl … ones?"

"So like, she/her? Cool, me too!" Krista can hear the swoon in her own voice, and kicks herself mentally even as she's fluttering her eyelashes in real life. Getting all sappy because they use the same _pronouns_? Crush status: official.

 

;;

 

"First order of business!" Krista says, and slams her lunch tray down on the table. Connie jumps out of Sasha's lap, startled. Krista's jell-o jumps out of its bowl. "New cute girl in my homeroom."

"The really dykey one?" Armin says. He takes a sip of his soda.

Krista sits down next to him, her eyes practically glistening with excitement. "Do you think?"

"Oh yeah," Armin says. "Definitely." 

"Total softball," Marco affirms.

Sasha hums thoughtfully. "Soccer, maybe? She's got the ponytail thing going, and she's super tan --"

"I think that's just her skin, whitey," Marco says with a laugh, and throws a grape at her. She catches it and pops it in her mouth, and leans across Connie to steal a few more from Marco's plate.

"Yeah yeah," she grumbles good-naturedly, her own ponytail flouncing. "People with beautiful skin are just born with it. I get it, I should give up the dream."

Krista clears her throat, and maybe slams her hand on the table a little. " _Cute girl_ ," she says pointedly. "We vote yes? Because she's meeting with her counselor today, I guess, but she's got this lunch period. Should I invite her tomorrow?"

"Aye," Connie and Sasha say in unison.

"Aye," says Marco.

"I'm gonna laugh at you so hard if she's straight," Armin says, "but yeah, aye."

Marco laughs, and kicks Armin's ankle under the table. "It's fine, we'll just kick you out." Armin rolls his eyes and mutters something about having better things to do, but Krista would bet money he's playing footsie with Marco down there. Armin's going to lose his status as the token straight guy soon, one way or another. 

"Second order of business," Connie says, raising hir hand. "How do we feel about this skirt?"

 

;;

 

Ymir is in Krista's fifth period creative writing class with Langner, too. _And_ they both have Zacharius for eighth period calc. This year is gonna be awesome.

 

;;

 

"Hey, Mikasa!" Krista bounds down the hallway after her friend, eyes locked on the familiar red scarf draped around her neck. Mikasa stops and leans against the locker bay, waiting for Krista to catch up. "Where were you at lunch today?"

"I have fifth," Mikasa says evenly, betraying absolutely none of the devastation that Krista would be feeling if she were separated from her friends for an entire semester's worth of lunch periods.

Krista sounds appalled enough for both of them, though, when she grabs one of Mikasa's slim hands in both of her own. "But we all have fourth! Are you going to switch? What class do you have fourth, anyway?"

Mikasa shrugs. "Eren has lunch fifth. I might keep it."

"You see Eren literally every day at home," Krista points out. She would never actually _say_ that Mikasa's attachment to her brother was a little weird, but if she did say it she wouldn't be the first. Eren was kind of a dick, for one thing, but he was Mikasa's brother, and Armin's best friend, so it wasn't like she was going to say anything.

"Eren doesn't have a lot of friends," Mikasa says dryly. Krista also doesn't _need_ to say anything, because it's not like Mikasa doesn't already know.

It's sweet, though, kind of. Krista's an only child, so she doesn't know what it's like, but Connie complains about hir little siblings all the time, and Marco seems to get along with his older brother a lot better now that the older Bodt is at college out of state. It's cool that Mikasa and Eren get along so well. 

Even if … well, she's secretly glad that Eren doesn't have the same lunch period as the rest of them, even if it means losing Mikasa too. She hadn't even known Mikasa _had_ a brother until he'd shown up at their lunch table halfway through sophomore year like he had some sort of right to be there. Their group had already been pretty solidified by that point -- Connie and Sasha had been dating then, Marco had just come out, Armin was starting to finally hang out with them after Krista had taken a shine to him in art class and convinced the freshman to come join them at lunch. 

Armin had been the only one really happy to see Eren, that first day -- even Mikasa didn't really say anything to him, and it had taken Krista another three weeks to figure out that they were actually related. She'd honestly thought he was Armin's boyfriend at first, or at least the boy he had a crush on; it was a relief to discover they were just childhood friends, and Armin wasn't into … well. Jerks. (It was a little embarrassing to learn that Mikasa was adopted after a year and a half of friendship, but Mikasa never did talk much about her family.)

"Who are you even eating with?" Krista asks. "Like, other than Eren."

"Mina has fifth, and Eren's friend Jean. I'd rather not switch my schedule around." Mikasa shrugs again, and Krista sighs. Mikasa may sound resigned, but Krista's known her well enough to know that means she's actually made up her mind.

"Hey, though!" Krista says brightly. "Since you weren't at lunch, you didn't get to -- well, I guess it doesn't really matter to you who's at the lunch table, but --"

"Oh, you're replacing me."

It's so deadpan that Krista's actually scared for a moment until she sees Mikasa's lip give the faintest twitch. She throws an arm around her friend, and Mikasa shifts her knapsack to accommodate her as Krista leans in. "So, there's this girl …"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh hi hello i have never posted a wip before fingers crossed on this one
> 
> it's been .......... a really long time since i was in high school i'm sorry here are some teen lesbians please forgive me
> 
> hopefully this whole thing will be out within the month thank u for reading xoxo


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie grins and shoots the girls a peace sign before extending hir hand across the table. "Nice to meet you. I'm Connie." Krista could absolutely kiss hir for how cool zie's being; it's like Krista didn't spend the entirety of lunch yesterday gushing about how cute Ymir is.

The moment Rheinberger finishes calling the roll, Krista is up and at Ymir's desk.

"Hey," she says, not at all breathlessly. She also does not flutter her lashes, even a little.

"Uh," Ymir says. "Hey." She's wearing a henley today, which makes both her shoulders and her breasts (not that Krista is looking!) look fantastic, in a weird sort of taupe color that Krista could definitely never pull off but which looks amazing set against Ymir's darker skin. 

"I really like your shirt," Krista says cheerfully, just in case she was staring. Which she wasn't. "So I talked to my friends at lunch yesterday and they think you should definitely come sit with us. I mean. If you don't have anyone else to sit with, which I don't want to assume you don't, like, obviously you're really cool so I'm sure you've already made a ton of friends, but you just … seem like you're our kind of people. Not to make any assumptions or anything! Even if you're not, I mean, it's still totally c -- "

"Reiss," Ymir says. Which is her name. That is … not a name she uses, really, but definitely Krista's name that Ymir just said, and it shuts her up very effectively. "Sure. Thanks." She pauses, and cocks her head in a way which is not entirely un-puppy-like and definitely really adorable. "Do all your friends talk this much?"

"Not all of us," Krista says, beaming. It's not a lie, technically, even if Mikasa's _not_ sitting with them this semester.

 

;;

 

Their physics teacher is kind of hot, Krista guesses, if you're into that sort of kind-of-buff, kind-of-hippie, blond white male thing. Krista is not. Sasha, apparently, totally is.

"I am _so_ glad I didn't take AP," she stage whispers as Mr Altonen is setting something up in front of the class. Krista tries to stifle her laughter; Armin, on her other side, doesn't even bother. "GPA, Schmee PA. I'll take one of _those_."

"You're awful," Krista says, and elbows her. "Keep this up and I'm telling Connie."

Even in the darkened room, Krista can just _feel_ Sasha rolling her eyes. "Yeah, because _zie_ 's going to care. 'Oh no, Sasha!'" she says, in a breathy, dramatic whisper that sounds exactly nothing like Connie, "'Have you fallen for someone else? Are you going to -- gasp! -- leave me?'"

"Ms Braus?" Mr Altonen says, again, from the front of the room. "If you wouldn't mind turning away from your romantic endeavors and _toward_ the projector, we can begin."

The whole class laughs, Sasha loudest of all. "Sorry, Mr A!" she calls out. "I was just really excited about … uh … learning!" Armin snickers again, and Krista elbows him this time.

"If you wouldn't mind assisting me by hitting the lights, then, Ms Braus?"

Sasha scrambles to her feet, and gives a hasty salute before she makes her way to the light switch. "Sir, yes sir!"

"She's _ridiculous_ ," Armin says as Sasha traverses the classroom. "Why are we friends with her again?"

"Because we love her," Krista says, smiling at Sasha -- even if she can't see it in the dark -- as she plops back down in her seat.

"Oh yeah."

"Are we talking about how great I am?" Sasha whispers, for certain values of 'whisper.' "Or are you talking about your new girlfriend again?" There's a teasing lilt on girlfriend that manages to raise the volume of her voice even higher, and Mr Altonen looks up from his slides.

" _Ms Braus_ ," he says sharply, and Sasha collapses into giggles again.

Armin's sitting close enough that Krista can see his exaggerated eye-roll even in the dark, and she has a hard time keeping from bursting into laughter herself.

 

;;

 

Krista is definitely not staked out in the entryway to the lunch room waiting for Ymir to walk through the doors, because that would be weird and creepy and she just wants to make sure Ymir can find their lunch table, is all. She is not waiting for Ymir with such staunch determination that she is also definitely not startled when Ymir comes up behind her and says "Hey," like, right over her head.

She turns around basically right into Ymir's boobs.

"Hey! Hi, hey, there you are," she says, jumping back about a foot. Her smile is bright and cheerful, hopefully, and not nearly as borderline-manic as it feels. _Stay cool, Krista_ , she thinks. Fortunately, Ymir just kind of smirks at her.

"We still cool for lunch?"

"Yeah! Here, let's -- come to the table, let's drop our stuff off and then we can get food. And you can meet the crew." 

Krista locates the table with an ease that speaks of practice, and it's true -- this is year four of occupying the same lunch table in the north corner of the lunchroom, and their dominion over said table is so complete that none of them think anything of throwing any books or bags they've got with them on the table, and leaving them unattended to get lunch.

It's not entirely unattended when they get there, though: Sasha's hoodie is thrown haphazardly over a chair, and there's a stack of library books that must belong to Armin. Standing guard (or slouching, as it happens), though, is Connie. Zie's pretty much slumped forward over the table, tapping glittery green nails on its shellacked surface impatiently. Hir backward snapback is perched so far back it's almost falling off hir bald head, and zie has to reach up to catch it when zie sits up abruptly.

"Sup, Con," Krista chirps, pulling out the chair across from hir and sliding into it. She maneuvers the one next to her out, only a little awkwardly, and pats the seat in invitation. "Have you met Ymir yet? She's new."

"Oh yeah?" Connie grins and shoots the girls a peace sign before extending hir hand across the table. "Nice to meet you. I'm Connie." Krista could absolutely kiss hir for how cool zie's being; it's like Krista didn't spend the entirety of lunch yesterday gushing about how cute Ymir is. (Ymir is so cute. Seriously, that henley should be illegal, and possibly also her shoulders.)

"Hey," Ymir says, reaching out to shake Connie's hand. "Ymir."

She's clearly trying and failing to be subtle in giving Connie the once over, which is not an uncommon first reaction to Connie. Or an unreasonable reaction to the neon green tank top zie's wearing, for that matter, which is so low cut that Krista's not entirely sure it's within dress code even if the chest it's revealing is entirely flat. Possibly Sasha isn't the one who's been wearing her hoodie today; now that Krista thinks about it, she didn't have it on during physics.

"Sash is grabbing lunch for me; she owes me from the weekend. Or, uh, basically from all summer. I'm not sure how she's gonna carry food for three people," Connie says with a smirk, "but I'm excited to see her try."

"You and who else?" Ymir asks. Krista beams: she's making conversation! She's fitting in! This is so great!

"Huh?"

"Three people, you said. You and her and who else?"

Connie laughs, a snicker that manages to be obnoxiously loud somehow. "Nah, Sash just eats enough for two. Hey!"

It's not a greeting: Sasha has managed to not only carry a tray with enough food for three people, but balance it on one hand while she reaches over and tweaks Connie's ear.

"Jerk," she grumbles, setting the tray down on the table. "See if I share now."

"You love me," zie says, and leans against Sasha's shoulder when she takes the seat next to hir.

"Are we having a domestic?" Armin says mildly, taking the seat next to Connie, who laughs again. Marco pulls out the chair on Krista's other side.

"Hey baby," Krista says, leaning into Marco's shoulder. He wraps an arm around her and presses a kiss to the top of her head. 

"How's it goin, kid?" he says into her hair, then pulls back, and puts an elbow on the table so he can look around her. "And who's this?"

"This is Ymir," Krista says, and leans back to smile at the taller girl, who is doing an admirable job of not looking totally overwhelmed. "She's new, but fortunately we've got a bunch of classes together so I'm making sure she meets all the important people. This," she says to Ymir, "is Marco, my best friend. That nerd across from him is Armin. He's straight, but try not to hold it against him."

Armin makes an outraged noise around a mouthful of french fries. "That's how you introduce me?!" he says, once he's swallowed. "I don't introduce you like 'This is Krista, she's a huge lesbian'."

A hush falls over the table.

"Uh," Sasha says finally. "Yes you do."

"That was once! And I thought you'd think she was cute!"

Marco throws one of his own fries at Armin's face, but Sasha intercepts it and adds it to the pile on her own plate. "What?" she says innocently when everyone turns to stare at her.

There's another moment of silence, which is broken with the harsh sound of a chair pushing across the linoleum as Ymir stands up. "I'm gonna go get something to eat," she says, but doesn't make a move to go anywhere.

"Oh! Yeah, me too." Krista dislodges Marco's arm from her shoulder and stands up as well. She slings her purse over her shoulder and smiles up at Ymir. "Let's go!"

 

;;

 

"Uuuuuuugh," Krista groans, and drops her slightly-damp head onto Marco's shoulder as they lean against the locker bay just outside the gymnasium doors. "We're seniors. Why are we even still taking PE?"

Marco shrugs, lightly enough that he doesn't dislodge her. "Because we fucked up our credit hours last year? At least we fucked up together."

"I don't even know why I bothered taking drivers' ed," she grumbles. "I never would have if I'd realized I'd have another semester of gym to make up for it. At least we've got free period right after; I'm going to take a _nap_."

He laughs. "Ok, Princess. Come take a nap in the commons. _You_ might be able to sleep standing up, but I think my arm will go numb."

"Carry me," Krista whines, taking her head off his shoulder but clinging to his arm instead. "C'mon, you're a big buff man."

He reaches over to ruffle her hair, and she shrieks a little and lets go of his arm, dodging away from him so quickly she almost backs into someone else in the hallway. "Sorry, sorry!" she calls after them, almost missing it when Marco starts teasing her.

"Are you sure you don't want Ymir to carry you instead? She's pretty big and buff."

"Shhh! Ohmigod."

She reshoulders her purse, links her other arm through his elbow, and they head over to the commons.

Connie's there when they get there, sitting against a wall and popping kernels from a bag of cafeteria popcorn into hir mouth. Sitting with hir, weirdly enough, is Eren Jaeger, who appears to have switched from his default state of barely-contained rage to a more simmering state of anxious concern. Mikasa is nowhere to be seen, which might be the cause -- he doesn't usually hang out with the crew unless she's there too.

"-- if you need to," Connie is saying when Krista leans against the wall next to hir, slumping slowly downward until she's on the ground. By the time she's fully seated, Eren is about a foot further away and is scowling again.

"Did we interrupt something?" Krista says, and then "Hey Eren."

"Nah," Connie says, waving a hand in the air dismissively at the same time Eren barks out an extremely defensive "No!"

Krista tries not to laugh, but she can't help from smirking a little bit. If she needs to know, she knows Connie will tell her, but otherwise it's just kind of funny to watch Eren squirm. "Well, good, because I don't want to stand up."

Marco's still standing next to her, and he puts a hand on her head in what is clearly meant to be a condescending pat, but might get to be a head massage if she plays her cards right. She tips her head backward a little, as well as she can with her head against the wall, and bats her eyelashes up at him. He rolls his eyes, but digs his fingertips into her scalp anyway, and she scoots sideways to lean against his legs.

"Where's Miks?" Marco asks, a little louder than usual so Connie and Eren can hear him over the happy groans Krista is making. 

That's the only sound for a moment until Eren grudgingly says, "Library probably." Krista's eyes are closed, but she can just imagine the even-deeper scowl on his face. "She said she had to get some stuff at lunch."

"How is lunch, by the way?" Krista asks. "Is she dealing okay sitting with you and that nerd friend of yours?"

"What nerd?" Marco asks; even though he's sat down right behind her, Krista almost can't hear him over Eren's laughter. Eren and Jean's enmity is well-known enough to be a joke even amongst his sister's friends. "Oh, Kirschtein." Marco answers his own question, voice almost too casual to be casual. Krista opens one eye and peeks up at him through her side bangs. Interesting.

"He looked good in gym today," she says, and it's not even a lie. They'd just been playing pick-up basketball games, which Krista was predictably terrible at ("I'm great for my height," she'd insisted to her exasperated teammates, who continued to never pass her the ball), and she'd played against him a couple of times. He wasn't basketball team good or anything, but his team totally destroyed hers.

Marco's fingers in her hair tighten for a moment before he pulls away to shake them out, attacking her neck with renewed vigor. "Hadn't noticed," he says, but there's a faint flush dusting his cheeks beneath the freckles. _Very_ interesting.

 

;;

 

The bell rings, and Krista lets out a sigh of relief a little louder than she'd meant to. It's day two, and okay yeah it wasn't like Zacharius had a reputation for being easy on his students or anything, but calc is already _hard_. The good news is, if her bus is anything like it has been the first three years -- and yesterday showed no sign of breaking the pattern -- it's going to be one of the last to leave the parking lot, and she can easily spend a few minutes slumped over her textbooks and still have time to hit the ladies' room before she has to actually leave the building.

"Hey, Reiss."

Krista sits up straight, and puts on her most disarming smile. Shit, shit, is her lipstick still good? Fingers crossed. "Hey, Ymir," she says, and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she looks up, eyelashes fluttering just slightly.

Unexpectedly, Ymir looks a little … nervous? Krista's not sure what word to use for it exactly, for the stance that's more slouched than usual (is that just because Krista's sitting down? How does she have committed to memory already how Ymir stands?), hands tucked in the pockets of her black jeans, eyebrows drawn together in a manner that isn't quite worried.

"Do you take the bus?" Ymir asks. Krista nods. "Do you, uh … do you want a ride? Or like, if you're not doing anything … you said at lunch that there were some cool places not far from here, and I don't really know what's in this town, so I mean …" She trails off a little awkwardly and pulls one hand out of her pocket to cough once into her fist. "I figure I should do stuff before we start getting killed by homework."

It's a few seconds before Krista can even bring herself to respond. Did Ymir just ask her out? Because it definitely sounded like Ymir just asked her out. Or maybe Ymir's just being friendly, since she is new here and probably wants to just see the sights and Krista did offer to show her around and … she should probably say something. "Yeah! Definitely. Let's -- do you like ice cream?"

Ymir turns and looks out the window. It's bright and sunny out, and the leaves on the trees are barely stirring. There's no telling how long the weather will hold, but despite school being in session it is definitely still summer.

"Who doesn't like ice cream?" she says.

Krista grins, and tucks her calc book and notebook under her arm as she stands up, slinging her purse over the other arm. "I need to stop by my locker real quick," she says apologetically, gesturing with the textbook. 

"That's cool," Ymir says with a shrug. "My stuff's in my car, so. No rush." She picks a notebook up off the desk next to Krista's, and nods toward the classroom door.

The journey to Krista's locker is uneventful, as is the walk out to the parking lot; it's only once they get there that things take a turn for the awesome.

"This is me," Ymir says, and Krista has to take a moment to gawk. "Nice, isn't she?" Ymir says, and her grin, plus the way she leans over the passenger door to unlock it, is enough to distract Krista from the car almost entirely.

She doesn't know anything about cars, is the thing. The semester of driver's ed really did nothing other than ensure she'd have to take gym senior year, and that very very occasionally her mom would let her use the car weekends. Cars have four wheels and go vroom, and she's vaguely aware that there is an engine involved. But even she can tell that this car is _cool_. It's clearly not new, but it's just as clearly well-cared for, and it's black and shiny and also a convertible. 

" _Yeah it is_ ," she says, and means it.

Ymir holds the passenger door open for her, and Krista slides inside. 

 

;;

 

Krista really, really hopes this is a date. They're sitting on a park bench by the duck pond, the sun is shining, Krista's feet are kicking because she's too short to touch the ground, Ymir has a chocolate milkshake and Krista is licking delicately at her mint chip ice cream cone, and this is entirely too cute _not_ to be a date. It would just be a waste.

"So why'd you move, anyway?" she asks. "Not that Sina's not lovely, but … senior year?"

Ymir shrugs. They're sitting close enough that Krista can feel it.

"Dad got a new job. I'm from Aussen, it's only …" She squints into the distance, as if she could see her hometown from here. "An hour away? But he didn't want to deal with the commute. I wasn't too attached to my school; I figure I can graduate anywhere," she says matter-of-factly. 

"It's good that you've got a car! At least it's still close enough that you can go see your friends."

Much to her surprise, Ymir laughs. "I've already sat with more people at lunch here than I did in three years."

Krista nods. "Close-knit. That's good, though."

Ymir outright snorts at that. "'Close-knit'? Yeah. Stuck together 'cause no one else would talk to us."

"What?!" Krista turns so sharply she almost drops her ice cream, and pulls it close to her chest protectively before taking another lick. "But you're so …" Don't say hot, don't say hot. "Nice."

Ymir rolls her eyes. "C'mon, Reiss. _You're_ nice. Your boy Marco is nice. Mother Theresa's nice. I'm not nice."

"Mother Theresa's never taken me out for ice cream," Krista says, and takes another lick of the dessert in question. Ymir's watching out of the corner of her eye, and she does it again. To make a point, and also because ice cream is delicious. The way Ymir's eyes trace the line of her jaw is just a bonus.

"Doesn't count if I didn't buy it for you," Ymir mumbles; she looks abruptly away, but Krista can see that she's blushing, a little. 

She grins into her ice cream, and leans into Ymir, knocking her shoulder softly against Ymir's arm. "Next time."

Ymir turns to look at her again. "You'd wanna do this again?"

"Sure." Krista grins up at Ymir this time, eyes crinkling a little in the still bright evening sun. She licks her ice cream again, a rough swipe that puts her tongue on full display. "I mean, you have a cool car."

Ymir snorts again, less dismissively this time, more fond. "You're all right, Reiss, you know that?"

"Could you … not call me that? Reiss, I mean," Krista asks quietly, and Ymir cocks her head to the side. Krista can't help but smile a little at how cute that gesture is, but her eyes are still sadder than they were a minute ago.

"Am I saying it wrong?" Ymir asks, with the sympathetic tone of someone whose own name is always mispronounced. 

"No, it's just --" Krista sighs. "It's my father's name." It's way too early in their relationship -- or whatever -- for this conversation, and she's relieved when Ymir just nods.

"Cool," she says, and after a beat adds "Krista."

Krista smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter alone is the second-longest piece of fanfiction i have ever written apparently i have a lot of yumikuri feelings??
> 
> ymir's car is something like [this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Chrysler_Le_Baron_2.2_GTC_Cabrio_1990.jpg). and außen is (according to google translate) german for "outside" get it it's where titan shifters live oh ho ho i am so clever
> 
> no seriously though thank you all for your hits & kudos & bookmarks (!!!!) i appreciate every one of you :* :* :*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of the strip mall is a storefront painted a garish shade of green, with a red neon sign proclaiming "FUN FUN FUN 5¢"
> 
> "This some sort of strip club?" 
> 
> Krista laughs. "You wish."

"Hey, Krista!"

Krista spins around so quickly in the crowded hallway that she is almost certain her handbag smacked someone, but that's the price they pay for getting in her way, really. The hallway that Dietrich's class is in is just weirdly narrow, or it seems like it; one way or another it's always packed during passing periods, and the fact that Krista is just barely under five feet in these heels is not helping her to see who's calling her name.

Not that she needs to _see_ , of course. That's definitely Ymir, who -- yep, is actually tall enough to be visible above the crowd as she pushes her way closer.

"Hey," Krista says, beaming up at Ymir as they fall into step and finally make it out of the bottleneck hallway and into a slightly less crowded one. She'd stopped at her locker to drop off her books before she'd gone to German, so all she has to carry is a notebook, and she heads automatically toward the lunch room. 

Ymir's next words stop her in her tracks. "Wanna ditch lunch?" she says, leaning down enough that she can speak to Krista without having to shout over the crowd, which means Krista can pretty much feel Ymir's breath across her ear. 

Does she wanna ditch lunch? Heck yeah, she wants to ditch lunch with Ymir; instead of the caf, they could find an isolated corridor, the locker bay pressed against Krista's back as her legs wrap around Ymir's waist, Ymir's teeth digging into the sensitive skin under her jaw as Krista throws her head back …

Krista coughs politely into her fist. "Sure," she says calmly. "Why?"

They start walking again, but just out of the way of the crowd, to lean against a wall. Krista runs a hand through her bangs, tucks them behind her ear then lets them fall free again so she can hide behind them a little; she's pretty sure she's blushing.

Ymir groans. "We have that stupid fucking quiz in calc today, and I wanna make sure I'm ready for it."

They do have a quiz, on the third day of school, which is patently cruel; Zacharius is literally a tyrant (or "wants to gauge how familiar they already are with the material," whichever).

"I'm not sure I'm the best study partner," Krista admits. "Math is not really my strong suit."

"Yeah, but you're the only person in our class I know," Ymir says, and grins. It's a really wide grin, putting almost all her teeth on display. It's kind of scary, almost. Krista is totally into it.

"Lemme get my stuff," she says, a little breathless.

 

;;

 

Krista groans loudly, her head falling into her arms on top of the calc textbook. "Can you fail a knowledge check?" she asks, voice muffled.

"Guess you'll find out," Ymir says, and Krista can _hear_ the smirk in her voice. As it turns out, Ymir is way ahead of her on the calculus curve, which is totally not fair; isn't switching schools supposed to screw you up, grades-wise? 

"I think I understand limits," Krista says, not lifting her head from the table. "Because I've hit mine."

"Ha, ha. C'mon, princess. You can do this."

Krista lifts her head up at that, and the look she gives Ymir is almost scandalized. "Did you just call me _Princess_?"

"Uh." Ymir is definitely blushing, and it's almost grossly adorable; she's turning practically auburn. Krista giggles. "Sorry."

"No, it's just --" Krista giggles again. "That's what _Marco_ calls me." 

The library is quiet this early in the semester; later on, Krista knows, it will be full of people ditching lunch to cram for classes, but right now they're at two of maybe six people here at all, including the librarian. (The one tall, bored looking person she's seen wandering in and out of the stacks might be a library aide, but she's not sure.)

The table they're at, like most in this section of the library, is a big round one: it seats six easily, fewer if everyone has a lot of books, maybe ten if you squish and it's finals week and no one cares anymore. There are five chairs around it currently, and Ymir and Krista are sitting next to each other, sharing Krista's calc book.

"You've known each other a while?" Ymir asks.

Krista grins. "Yeah, since we were kids. He lived down the street from me before I moved; we went to grade school together. I used to spend a lot of time at his place when --" She falters. "Well, I still do, I mean. Now we actually do stuff though, since we're not … like, seven. He has a car," she says, not even bothering to disguise the jealousy in her voice.

"Family," Ymir says with a wry smile, and presses her leg against Krista's. "I get it."

Krista sighs. "Sorry. It's -- I think by not talking about it I make it sound worse than it is? It's not. It's not bad, just. Sorry, you probably don't even --"

Ymir shrugs, a languid gesture that ends with her leaning back in her chair, legs stretching out but still flush against Krista's under the table. "You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna."

_I don't_ , Krista thinks. _I don't want to tell you. I don't want to have anything to tell, and I don't want to talk at all, I want to climb into your lap and kiss you. I want this dumb quiz and this day to be over with._

"I wish we could just get out of here," Ymir says abruptly. "Fuck this quiz. Fuck school. Just … go, y'know?"

"Then we'd fail for sure," Krista says. She grins, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Besides," she adds with a sigh, "I'd rather face my problems. Trying to escape from them usually just makes it worse, y'know?"

"Yeah." Ymir smiles crookedly, and Krista's heart flutters. Under the table, she puts a hand on Krista's thigh, and Krista leans slightly into her touch. "You don't seem like the running away type."

"We could go somewhere after school though," Krista offers, and Ymir laughs.

"Cool," she says. "Sounds good."

 

;;

 

The day is just as gorgeous after school as it had looked through the windows of the library at lunch time, and there's almost no traffic in this part of Sina, this far out from downtown. Ymir's put the top down and Krista's put her hair in a loose side braid so it doesn't blow around too much; her elbow's on the window ledge, but she's not taking in the view at all. Her eyes are fixed firmly on the Ymir, watching as she worries her lower lip between her teeth in concentration, as she crawls to a stop at every stop sign, eyes darting back and forth. She's a careful driver, and she doesn't know this part of town.

Krista does, though. It's a while from where she lives now, but it's not far from Marco's house -- from where she grew up. "Take a left -- not at this light, but at the next one." 

"Kay," Ymir says absently. 

They cruise in near silence for a while -- they've got the radio on, but it's turned low and easily overpowered by Krista giving the occasional direction, birds in the trees, the wind blowing past them. Krista's still coming down from the stress of their calc quiz (she always gets like this about tests, even the really minor ones, it's so stupid but she can't help it) and Ymir's slowly getting a caffeine boost from the giant Coke she'd driven through the McDonalds drive-thru for, now sitting neglected in the center console after she'd downed half of it before even pulling away.

"Up on the right," Krista says. "That strip mall with the Chinese place, yeah."

Ymir gives her a glance as they turn into the parking lot. "We came all this way for Chinese food?" She pulls into a spot and puts the car into park, hitting the button that brings the car roof slowly back up.

Krista laughs brightly, making eye contact with Ymir for the first time since they'd pulled away from the school. "No! Down at the end." She hops out of the car, leaving her backpack behind as she shuts the door with a snap. Ymir's taking a moment to make sure everything is in place before she gets out, so Krista's waiting by her side of the car when she gets out.

"C'mon," Krista says, and grabs her hand. They freeze there for a moment, both of them looking at their joined hands, before Krista looks back up at Ymir and smiles, tugging her forward.

At the end of the strip mall is a storefront painted a garish shade of green, with a red neon sign proclaiming "FUN FUN FUN 5¢"

"This some sort of strip club?" 

Krista laughs. "You wish. C'mon," she says again, and pulls Ymir in through the door of the arcade.

It's simultaneously nearly empty and bustling inside, all the flashing lights and whirring machines making up for the relative lack of people. Krista and Ymir are clearly the oldest people there who are neither weary parents nor wearier employees, but that doesn't stop them from attacking the games with gusto. Ymir, Krista is unsurprised (but not unimpressed) to learn, is incredible at pinball; Krista has an uncanny accuracy at any game that involves pressing buttons to stop spinning wheels or lights.

They both profess to be terrible at skee-ball, so that's exactly where Ymir is dragging Krista when they hear familiar voices coming from the doorway of the arcade.

"Oh, you're kidding me," Krista laughs, and Armin waves at her from across the room.

"Has Ymir kicked your ass at skee-ball yet?" Marco asks when the girls have made their way over. Armin is feeding dollar bills into a machine that exchanges them for tokens. Marco rests his hand, briefly, on the small of Armin's back; Krista raises an eyebrow at him, and he shrugs in return. 

"She says she's awful." Krista grins, and leans back into Ymir slightly; the taller girl wraps an arm around her shoulders, and Krista looks up at her. "Marco and I used to come here all the time," she explains. "His house is, like, right around the corner. Did you guys walk?"

The last part was directed at Marco, who nods. "Yeah, I drove Armin back to my place and then we came over here."

"How nice," Ymir says dryly. "A double date."

"Is this a date?" Krista says, grinning, at the same time Armin says "This isn't a date!" He's got a cup full of tokens, and he jingles it at Marco before heading into the arcade proper.

Marco rolls his eyes. "No homo," he says fondly, and follows after Armin.

They stand there for a moment, watching the boys go, Krista leaning comfortably into Ymir. "What's their deal?" Ymir asks. "Is Armin straight, or what?"

"Talk to Sasha if you want in on the pool. Five bucks minimum, closest to the date without going over, everyone pays double if they get caught in the act." It's not an actual answer, but Krista figures it about sums it up. When Ymir doesn't reply, Krista looks up to see the sort of startled, baffled look on her face, and starts laughing. "It's been going on since last year. No one knows; Marco won't even tell _me_."

She pulls softly out of Ymir's grip, and takes her hand again. "C'mon, let's go see who sucks less at skee-ball."

"Your friends are fucking weird," Ymir says, as they walk past Armin trouncing Marco at Mortal Kombat. 

"Yep." Krista grins, and squeezes Ymir's hand. "Welcome to the family."

(Krista wins the first game, 160-100. Ymir insists they play again, and again.)

 

;;

 

"Iiiiii haaaaaaate APUUUUUSH," Sasha sings tunelessly, but with great feeling, as she takes a seat at the lunch table.

Krista makes a sympathetic noise: she'd taken APUSH last year and it had totally sucked, but Sasha has Rheinberger, and while Rheinberger is completely chill for homeroom, she's apparently rough as an actual teacher. 

Connie pats Sasha on the shoulder. "Poor baby," zie coos. "Eat your pizza, you'll feel better."

"Jerk," Sasha says, and sticks her tongue out at hir, but the three slices of pepperoni on her tray imply that she'd had the same idea. She picks one up and bites into it with gusto.

Sasha is already onto her second slice when Marco appears. He puts his lunch box and a can of Sprite on the table and falls into the seat next to Krista. "Where's your ladyfriend?" he asks, unpacking his salad.

"Counselor. Still having trouble with credit transfers, or something." Krista wrinkles her nose, then rounds on Marco. "Where's your boyfriend?" she teases, and then seriously: "Oh my god. Why are you wearing that jacket?"

"I wear this jacket all the time," Marco says defensively, tugging on the collar of his red track jacket where it's zipped all the way up to his chin.

He shrinks back into his seat as Connie and Sasha both start looking at him speculatively as well, salad forgotten under the weight of his friends' stares. "What," he says, voice desperate as he recoils further from them.

Connie tugs on the edges of hir own hoodie, which is unzipped and practically falling off hir shoulders. "It's really not cold in here," zie says pointedly. Sasha nods fervently in agreement. "Not cold at all," she says.

"My last classroom was cold," Marco insists.

"Really? Mine was boiling." Armin rests his hands on the back of Marco's chair, leaning into him for a moment before rounding the table; he drops his backpack on the floor next to his chair, drops his hoodie on the chair back, and sits down. Neither the thin t-shirt he's wearing nor the short ponytail he's pulled his hair back into belie his statement. "I think Eibringer kept us late just to punish us."

Silence rolls over the table as Armin unpacks his lunch from his backpack, and takes a bite of his sandwich. "What?" he says finally, looking around.

"Why is Marco's jacket zipped all the way up?" Sasha asks pointedly.

"Oh my God," Marco mumbles, burying his head in his hands. 

"Hickies, probably." Armin's tone is so blunt it's almost disinterested, and he takes another bite of his sandwich.

"Oh my God," Krista echoes. "What did I _miss_ yesterday?"

Marco's still hiding his face, and his voice is muffled as he says, "We had a very good time." His shoulders start to shake, and Krista's eyes widen in concern until she realizes he's _laughing_. "I had a good time, anyway." He moves his hands, and smirks across the table at Armin. "Did you?" Now that he's done being embarrassed he looks incredibly proud of himself in a way that Krista hasn't seen … possibly ever, actually, and she's known him almost their entire lives.

Armin smiles, the quirk of his lips somehow both subtle and devious, though his tone remains matter-of-fact. "I enjoyed myself. I don't know that I'll do it again, but … curiosity satisfied."

"He'd totally do it again," Connie stage-whispers to Sasha, and then sits up straight. "Oh!" zie says. "Sasha! Who won?"

"Who _what_?" Marco sputters. Across the table, Armin facepalms.

"I'd have to check, but I think it's Mikasa," Sasha says, ignoring them both. "She had them down for somewhere in the first week of school I'm pretty sure."

"You were _betting_?!" Marco is flushed under his freckles, voice pitching up in outrage. 

Armin laughs into the hand still covering his face. "How much did she win?"

"I don't want to know," Marco moans, and pushes his lunch just far enough away that he can drop his head onto the table. Krista reaches over and pets his hair reassuringly.

 

;;

 

Langnar is an actual writer, is like the worst thing. She's published two books of poetry, which Krista assumes are really good if you like poetry. One of them is normal poems, but the other one is some sort of free-form thing in diary format that Krista might not actually have known was poetry if she hadn't found it in the poetry section of the library. She'd looked the teacher up, over the summer, just to see.

She kind of wishes she hadn't now, because having a creative writing teacher who's an actual published author is kind of intimidating. Mostly because it makes it feel like all these weird exercises they have to do in class have some sort of _meaning_.

This one is particularly weird: yesterday they'd each gotten a different list of words, and had to write a story between one and three pages where they didn't use any of them. Some of them were easy -- Krista isn't sure she's ever used the word "irreversible," to be entirely honest -- but not using "than" was somewhat more difficult. Today they have to pair up and write a response to each other's stories, using all the words on their lists this time.

It occurs to Krista briefly that she could pair up with Ymir, but she doesn't want to seem clingy or anything -- it's not like not seeing her at lunch means she needs to spend all of six period with her, instead. So the moment Langnar says they need partners, she leans forward to tap Mina on the shoulder. "Wanna swap?" Across the room, she can see Ymir trading papers with someone she's pretty sure is named Thomas.

"Sure!" Mina smiles at her, and hands over a few typed pages. Krista doesn't know Mina very well -- she's friends, or at least friendly, with Mikasa, but doesn't hang out with the rest of them -- but she knows her well enough to assume her story will be light and happy, and possibly about the power of friendship.

She is not disappointed.

They have almost the entire class period to work on their responses; Langnar collects them about five minutes before the bell rings. "Okay," she says, when she's gotten everyone's papers back to the front of the room. "I hope everyone's handwriting is legible, because I'm shuffling these and passing them back out. If you get your own, just trade with someone. We're going to do the assignment one more time -- you can choose, this time, if you want to use or exclude your word list."

She hands out the papers, and then the bell rings; Krista sticks hers inside her creative writing binder without even glancing at it.

She's putting the binder in her backpack when she feels the pressure of a hand on her hip. She stiffens, but Ymir's saying "Hey" in her ear before she can react any further.

"Hey," she says, and turns around; Ymir's hand trails over her stomach as she moves.

"Hey," Ymir says again. "You didn't get my paper, did you?" She sounds almost worried.

"I didn't look," Krista says, and laughs, says jokingly, "Why? Did you write about me?"

Ymir grins, and rests her hand on Krista's hip again. "Yeah," she says simply, and then walks out of the classroom.

Krista stares after her. The door is propped open, and she can see Ymir's lanky form halfway down the hallway, even through the press of other students. "Yeah," she repeats once she can't see her anymore, and she rests a hand on her hipbone where Ymir's had just been. After a moment she laughs, bright and loud and joyous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twelve billion thank u to [lanta](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lantadyme) for patting my head both literally and metaphorically i owe u a drink (or an appetizer or w/e)
> 
> twenty billion thank u to everyone reading this :* :* :* i am putting the final touches on ch4 (by which i mean "writing it" obvs) and we are still on track to be done before the month is out seriously tku tku tku
> 
> contemplated actually tagging this fic armin/marco but i think anyone who actually ships that would be disappointed (yumikuri lyfe &c &c)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krista raises her head from Mikasa's lap and looks at her imploringly. "What if she doesn't _like me_?"
> 
> "Then you return to your previous life of having a tight group of friends who don't want to strangle you every time you open your mouth," Mikasa says, entirely deadpan.

The bell rings to signify the end of fourth period, and Sasha moans dramatically into the remains of her Coca-Cola. "Guess who doesn't want to go to claaaaass," she sing-songs, even as she unfolds herself from her chair and pulls her oversized hoodie back on. 

"C'mon," Connie says, and puts hir arm around Sasha's waist, both giving her an awkward sort of hug and directing her toward the cafeteria door. "It's too early in the year for this sort of ennui!"

Sasha waves over her shoulder at the table and lets herself be lead away. "What's an onwee?" Krista can hear her asking as the two walk away.

"¿Vienes?" Marco asks Armin, tilting his head toward the door. Armin shifts his textbooks to under his other arm and takes Marco's hand, replying in Spanish much too fast for Krista to understand even a little.

"Huh," she says, watching them go. 

Next to her, Ymir is fiddling with her cell phone. She looks up. "Are they dating now, or just fucking, or what?"

"I am honestly not sure," Krista says slowly, still trying to process this development herself. "Neither, I think? I don't know if you've noticed yet, but we're … weird, a little bit."

Ymir snorts. "You don't say." 

They're silent for a moment, Krista leaning against the back of Ymir's chair while Ymir texts rapidly. We should probably go to class, Krista is about to say, when Ymir stands up. "Hey," she says, and grabs Krista's hand. "I gotta ask you something after next period."

Krista laughs, but there's an edge to it, and hopefully she sounds more teasing than worried when she says, "You can't ask me now?"

"Nah. Gotta double-check a thing," Ymir says. "If I'm late tell Lagnar it's family stuff, will you? Not an emergency but I'm gonna be late, probably. My mom keeps texting me to call her."

"Okay …" Krista trails off, frowning.

Ymir gives Krista's hand a squeeze and leans down to press a kiss to the top of her head before dashing out of the lunch room.

"Did that just happen?" Krista asks. She looks around the empty lunch table and shakes her head.

 

;;

 

"Mikasa," Krista says, misery evident in every syllable. "Help. You're a girl."

"That's what I hear," Mikasa says, and runs her fingers through Krista's hair. Krista had collapsed into her lap the moment she'd arrived in the commons for free period and immediately turned on the puppy dog eyes while she divulged the events of the past several class periods. "I don't think I'm the best person to give you advice about this."

"Who else could I ask? I don't know any girls."

"Sasha?" Mikasa suggests.

"Girls that have sex," Krista says sadly.

"... Connie?"

"Mikasaaaaaa," Krista whines, and turns over to bury her face in Mikasa's thigh. Mikasa sighs, and pets Krista's head again. "What if," she begins, and the rest is muffled by the fabric of Mikasa's leggings.

"What?"

Krista raises her head from Mikasa's lap and looks at her imploringly. "What if she doesn't _like me_?"

"Then you return to your previous life of having a tight group of friends who don't want to strangle you every time you open your mouth," Mikasa says, entirely deadpan. Krista frowns up at her, eyes wobbly.

"I don't see what the problem is. She invited you over. Not even under some sort of school-based pretext, just invited you -- after making sure her family would be out, no less. Either she's desperate for someone to watch movies with, or she wants to fuck you." Mikasa sighs again, and returns to playing with Krista's hair. This is the closest to exasperated Krista has ever heard her sound, but her touch is no less friendly. "Where's Marco? I'm giving you back."

"Can't," Krista says. "You're stuck with me." 

"Where is he, anyway?"

"Who, Marco?" Krista dislodges Mikasa's fingers from her hair, shaking it out as she sits up and shifts around, laying back down face up this time. She shrugs, shoulder bumping awkwardly against the inside of Mikasa's knee. "Dunno. He was in gym but then he never came out of the locker room. Maybe he's rebounding from Armin," she says with a laugh.

"Locker-room tryst?" Mikasa raises an eyebrow. "Please tell me there's at least someone cute in your gym class."

There's a pause, and Krista says haltingly, "I don't … really … look for cute boys." 

"The dangers of monosexuality," Mikasa says gravely. Krista giggles, turning to bury her face in Mikasa's calf. Which, jeez, is maybe even _more_ toned than she remembers it being. She forgets sometimes that Mikasa is some sort of insane athletic prodigy and will probably have the track team renamed in her honor when she graduates.

She nuzzles into Mikasa's insanely nice legs again until the other girl gets the hint and resumes petting her hair.

"I was just thinking," Krista says, and giggles again. "I haven't spent this much time in your lap in a while."

She's probably imagining the way Mikasa's hand tightens in her hair, but she might not be. _Good to know I've got options, I guess_ , she thinks, and immediately feels guilty.

Before she can start dwelling too heavily, a bookbag thumps down on Mikasa's other side. "Yo," Connie says, taking a seat next to them. 

"Speaking of MIA," Krista says. "Where have _you_ been?"

Connie unzips the front pocket of hir backpack and pulls out a Capri Sun. "Talking to Eren," zie says after a moment, deep in concentration; hir tongue pokes out from between hir teeth as zie wrestles with the tiny straw.

"Are you putting the moves on my _brother_?" Mikasa asks, nose wrinkled in distaste.

"No! I was just giving Eren some advice. Jeez," Connie mutters, finally stabbing the straw through the foil. "It's like you think I can't control myself. "

Krista giggles, pipes up from Mikasa's lap. "Name one person we all know that you haven't at least kissed. Teachers don't count," she adds.

"Kirschtein," zie says immediately. ("Oh he's in our gym class," Krista remarks absently.) "Literally anyone in my second, third, or sixth period classes, and statistically speaking we all know at least one of them. I have kissed Armin but no tongue so it doesn't count. Anyone I'm aware of being genetically related to, and I _know_ you've all met my mom. Um." Zie pauses, thinking, and then a smirk slowly grows on hir face. "Ymir."

There's nothing _actually_ lewd about the way zie drains the entire Capri Sun in one long slurp, but it's definitely implied in the cheeky grin zie shoots Krista afterward.

"I will end you," Krista promises. "You will wish you had been killed by someone with a concept of mercy."

"Can't help it if the ladies love this." Connie grins again, and settles back against the wall.

 

;;

 

"Sorry," Ymir says before they're even all the way through the door, "I'm not -- I know I should probably be unpacked by now, but -- "

Krista laughs, and a little harder when she sees the flush spreading across Ymir's face; she doesn't mean to be mean, but it's so _cute_ when Ymir is awkward. "Don't worry," she says. "It looks fine!"

It looks … half-unpacked, to be honest. There's a dresser that seems to be full, if the half-open top drawer is anything to go by; there's a bookshelf with the top two shelves taken up by DVDs, and a cluster of cardboard boxes at its foot that Krista guesses contain actual books. There's a small desk and a big rolling desk chair, and an armchair by the door that looks kind of beat-up and comfy, but Ymir's thrown their coats over it so she's not sure. There's a closet door (shut). There's a nightstand, and … there's a bed. 

Krista can't help but blush a little herself, then; there's a throb between her legs that's entirely disproportionate to the situation at hand, but Ymir is so _cute_ , and her bed is _right there_. It's made, surprisingly: denim-blue pillowcases propped up on top of what looks like maybe a handmade quilt. It looks … comfy. It looks _really_ comfy, actually. 

"Oh my God, is your bed as comfortable as it looks?" She didn't mean to say it, really, but the look on Ymir's face is absolutely worth it. 

"I -- yeah."

"Can I?" Krista's already toeing off her flats before Ymir has a chance to respond. The bed is high, and she has to hop up a little to sit on the edge of it, push herself up to smooth out her skirt so it doesn't ride up too terribly.

"Sure, go for it," Ymir deadpans, and sits on the desk chair to unlace her boots.

Krista apologizes absently, but she's already distracted by the photo -- an actual photo, like from a camera, on the glossy paper and everything -- taped to the wall above Ymir's bed. It's the only decoration in the entire room.

It's of Ymir, her arm around a small blonde who doesn't look pleased about -- Ymir's arm? being pulled into the frame? Something, for sure. Behind them are a tall, blond, muscular person with a big smile, and a slightly anxious-looking, and incredibly tall, brunet -- whose arms, apparently, are long enough to take a selfie of four people and fit them all in the frame easily.

"Every single one of my friends from Aussen," Ymir says in her ear. Krista starts; she hadn't even heard Ymir come up behind her.

"It's like an optical illusion," she says, leaning back on the bed as she turns toward Ymir. "Is that one really short, or is that one really tall?"

Ymir laughs. "Annie's taller than you." She sits down on the bed, a foot or so away from Krista. "Bert's stupid fucking tall though. So both, I guess."

"That's Annie?" Krista props herself up and points, finger stopping just short of the photo's glossy surface. Ymir nods. "She's cute. Was she your girlfriend?"

 _Let it be was, past tense_ , she thinks, but before she can even begin worrying in earnest Ymir starts laughing.

" _Annie_? Fuck no. Not if you paid me, Jesus. You'd have to pay her, too."

Krista hums thoughtfully, finger still hovering over the blonde's face in the photo. "You don't think she's cute?"

Ymir snorts. "Cute enough, I guess. She wouldn't date me, trust me, even if I wanted her. Bitch doesn't like _anyone_."

"Oh, like she's aromantic?"

"What?" Ymir blinks down at her, and laughs again. "No, like she's a fucking cunt."

Krista pauses, a smile spreading across her face as she debates her options: chastise Ymir for her misogynistic language, educate her about the etymology of the word cunt, or be _totally smooth_.

"That's good," she says slowly, voice deliberately casual. "That you didn't date her. And that you think she's cute, I guess. It's just -- it would be kinda weird, y'know?"

"Weird?" Ymir wrinkles her nose.

Krista nods, worries her bottom lip between her teeth for just long enough to see Ymir inhale sharply. "I mean -- we've got very different styles, it looks like, but short blue-eyed blondes … it would look like you've got a type, is all." She looks up at Ymir through her eyelashes, and reaches out to put a hand lightly on her arm. 

"Tell me if I've been reading this all wrong," she murmurs, and pulls Ymir toward her.

Ymir takes a deep breath, and for a moment Krista is terrified -- that she's going to laugh, that she's going to say something, that she's going to say no, I don't want you -- but she lets it out in a shaky exhale that ghosts across Krista's face, which could be gross except then Ymir is kissing her.

She starts at the first touch of Ymir's lips to hers, a jolt of pleasure like an electric shock, and then Ymir laughs softly against her lips. There's nothing mocking to it; it's such a purely _happy_ sound that Krista can't help but smile, and then Ymir pushes her down onto her back. She braces herself over Krista, one hand flat on the bed while the other curves around Krista's face, thumb tracing over her lips. Krista parts her lips just slightly, the tip of her tongue pushing out to just barely lick against Ymir's thumb.

"Yeah?" Ymir says, eyes gone dark in a way that makes Krista's pulse jump. Krista nods, as well as she can lying down, without breaking eye contact. Ymir pushes her thumb against Krista's lips again, and when they part this time it's to suck Ymir's thumb inside. Her tongue traces lightly around the digit, eyes steadily meeting Ymir's, but it's not until she lets her teeth graze against the pad of Ymir's thumb that Ymir sucks in a breath. She pulls her thumb free (with another scrape against Krista's teeth) and leans down to kiss her again.

Ymir's lips press against Krista's, against the corner of her mouth, against the pulse point of her throat, which makes Krista tilt her head back and let out of a soft, startled moan. She kisses up Krista's jaw and back to her lips, which part obligingly. Ymir's tongue traces the ridge of Krista's upper teeth. Krista's hand wraps around the back of Ymir's neck and pulls her even closer.

They stay like that for a while, kissing, the room filling with the soft wet sounds their mouths make together. Krista gasps when Ymir's hand moves up from her waist, up under her shirt to rest against the underwire of her bra. It's what pulls their mouths apart, and Krista blinks her eyes open to grin sheepishly at Ymir.

"You -- startled me," she says. "It's. You can keep going."

"Okay," Ymir says, a little breathless, but she doesn't. She doesn't move at all, just keeps staring at Krista.

Krista flushes. "What?" she says, and closes her eyes, pulls Ymir toward her.

Ymir kisses her, once, a soft press of lips before pulling away again. "I do," she says. Krista's eyes fly open, startled. "I do have a type. My type is you."

Despite herself, despite Ymir's hand on her breast and her serious expression, despite her own pressing sense of arousal, Krista bursts out laughing. "Oh my God," she says. "That's -- gross. That is so fucking cheesy. Oh my God." She leans up, kisses along the shell of Ymir's ear, and while she's there she whispers, "You're totally my type, too."

 

;;

 

Ymir is leaning against the side of her car and Krista is leaning against Ymir, getting up on her tip toes to press a kiss to Ymir's nose, when Marco pulls into the school parking lot and parks a spot over from them.

"Hey gu --" he starts to say, getting out of the car, and then stops. He pulls his sunglasses down, peering over them to better take in the sight in front of him: the oversized plaid shirt Krista's wearing unbuttoned over her camisole, which matches yesterday's skirt in color but not in pattern; the freckled arm curled possessively around Krista's waist; the hickey blooming under Ymir's ear.

"Hey," Krista replies, and giggles, and buries her head in Ymir's chest.

After a moment, Marco begins to applaud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who also didn't take spanish in hs thx google translate (sorry if that one word is wildly inaccurate) 
> 
> apparently more stories in this 'verse are a thing that is happening um. is that. a thing people are actually interested in? i mean i am presumably going to write stuff no matter what but feel free to let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see!
> 
> i didn't quite stay true to [my original idea](http://robokittens.tumblr.com/post/74462082286/someone-who-is-less-awful-at-writing-things-should) but a little over two months and 10000 words later i think i did an ok enough job of it. I LOVE YOU ALL what a fucking trip. i have never written anything this long in my life i'm pretty sure. i feel like i legit busted through the walls of both my years'-long writers block and snk fandom. thank you so much for coming with me <3 <3 <3


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